BarTender Closes the Gap Between Labeling and Supply Chain Visibility with Built-In Track & Trace

New integration and APIs ensure every item is visible and trackable the moment a label is printed

Redmond, WA — May 4, 2026 — Seagull Software, maker of BarTender, the world’s #1 label management solution, announced a major platform advancement that connects labeling directly to item-level tracking. With the release of BarTender 12.2 organizations, for the first time, can create a product’s identity and track it through every supply chain event within a single system, eliminating the disconnect that drives inventory errors, compliance gaps, and operational inefficiencies.

For most organizations, labeling and traceability are separate systems managed by separate teams and purchased from separate vendors. Research shows mislabeling is a key factor leading to global inventory distortion that exceeds $1.8 trillion annually. Further, 43% of operations still lack full visibility into the items they manage. In many of these situations, labeling systems that create a product's identity have not connected to the system that tracks, verifies, and reports on that identity as it moves through the supply chain. That gap creates real consequences: label compliance issues, receiving errors, shipment discrepancies, delayed recalls, and costly chargebacks. 

From Label Creation to Full Visibility, Instantly

BarTender 12.2 eliminates the handoff between labeling and tracking. When a label is printed, the system automatically registers the item in Track & Trace in real time. There’s no batch upload, no manual entry, and no integration work.

Each item becomes immediately visible, location-aware, and fully traceable from the moment it exists. Operations teams can see where items are, track movement across facilities, and access a complete digital history tied directly to the original label. This closes a longstanding industry gap. Traditional labeling systems stop at print. Tracking systems rely on downstream data. BarTender now does both, ensuring that what the label says always matches what the system knows.

“This is where problems start, when labeling and downstream visibility don’t connect. That’s where inventory disappears, compliance breaks down, and costs escalate,” says Matthew Brine, Seagull Executive Vice President. “We’ve eliminated that gap with a single platform and a single source of truth.” 

Real-Time Identity, Built at the Source

BarTender creates and registers item identity in a single action. When a serialized label prints, the system pushes identity data into Track & Trace via API as part of the print process itself.

Each item record includes EPC data, timestamps, location, and system context, built from the same source data used to create the label. That alignment eliminates mismatches between physical items and digital records and ensures traceability starts accurately and stays accurate. 

APIs That Integrate Tracking into Operations

BarTender also introduces new Track & Trace APIs that connect item-level visibility into core business systems:

• Logistics API: Automates ASN creation, tracking, and reconciliation. Flags discrepancies immediately, not after the fact.
• Shipping Order API: Aligns outbound shipments with actual execution, ensuring shipped and expected quantities match.
• Events Metrics API: Provides clean, queryable data for throughput, process performance, and anomaly detection.
• Inventory APIs: Syncs real-time inventory data with ERP and WMS systems for accurate cycle counts and reporting.

These APIs remove the need for middleware and manual reconciliation, allowing organizations to operationalize traceability instead of managing it separately. 

Platform Enhancements That Improve Daily Operations

This release also strengthens core labeling and tracking workflows:

• Intelligent Forms enhancements for multi-page workflows that expand supplier labeling flexibility and control
• Improved cloud-based label design with stronger data validation and control
• Centralized print queue management for better visibility and reliability
• Expanded audit and retention capabilities to meet compliance requirements
• New Track & Trace management for users and product data combined with enhanced dashboards for global item and sight visibility

Together, these updates give operations teams tighter control, clearer visibility, and faster execution across distributed environments.

Closing the Gap, Permanently

BarTender now connects labeling and traceability into a single, continuous process. The moment an item is labeled, it becomes visible, trackable, and operationally usable across the business. That shift matters. It eliminates blind spots, reduces errors, and ensures that every system, from warehouse to ERP, works from the same accurate, real-time data. In addition, now BarTender customers can control labels and tags from suppliers through their customers, streamlining tracking, accelerating pack-in and ship out, and minimizing returns. In practical terms: you’re no longer just labeling products, you’re activating them.

For a limited time, qualifying BarTender customers can see how extending their Labeling with Track & Trace can help address their supply chain challenges. For more information about this promotion, please visit: <need link here>  

About Seagull Software  

Seagull Software is a global leader in label management and item-level tracking solutions, providing flexible, connected, and scalable solutions to help organizations label and locate the things their business depends on across today’s most complex supply chains. Through its flagship BarTender® platform, Seagull enables businesses to design, manage, automate, and scale the production of labels, 1D and 2D barcodes, and RFID tags that serve as the digital foundation for traceability, compliance, and operational execution.  

Supporting more than 250,000 customers around the globe, BarTender software provides the accuracy, control, and governance required to connect physical products with digital systems across manufacturing, logistics, retail, healthcare, and food supply chains. By unifying label management with item-level data capture and visibility, Seagull helps organizations transform operational efficiency, reduce compliance and regulatory risk, and realize smarter, more responsive operations.  

Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, with offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia, Seagull Software serves customers worldwide. For more information, visit www.seagullsoftware.com.   

Media Contacts:  

Colby Cavanaugh  

SVP Marketing  

Seagull Software  

(503) 421-6717  

ccavanaugh@seagullsoftware.com 

Jim Donaldson    

Sr. Director, Corporate Communications  

Seagull Software    

(314) 223-4779    

jdonaldson@seagullsoftware.com   

© 2026 Seagull Software, LLC, BarTender Software, LLC. BarTender, BarTender Cloud, Intelligent Templates, Drivers by Seagull, the BarTender logo, the BarTender Cloud logo and the Drivers by Seagull logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagull Software, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners